Orange County offers plenty of pick-your-own adventures, and this combination of shopping and art makes for a nice solo date idea or even a rainy day outing.
It starts at the UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art, a free art museum occupying an enormous sculptural building in Costa Mesa.
Then, walk a few blocks to the enormous South Coast Plaza for a great meal, shopping, or a movie.
Here’s a closer look.
First stop: UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art
Housed in a 53,000-square-foot sculptural building designed by Thom Mayne of Morphosis, the UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art is a free cultural center hosting rotating exhibitions.
Visitors can explore more than 9,000 works from the 1850s to the present, centered on modern and contemporary art from California, the Americas, and the Pacific.
The museum’s newest exhibition is Tokio Ueyama: The Hollows Between Mountains, which will stay on display through February 28, 2027. It’s dedicated to the work of Tokio Ueyama, a plein air painter who was forced into a World War II camp in Colorado before eventually settling in Los Angeles.
🕜 Hours: Open 11am-6pm Wednesday to Sunday
📍 Address: Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Second stop: South Coast Plaza
After a full museum morning, you can walk just a few blocks over to the South Coast Plaza shopping complex, which is the largest shopping mall in California at 2.8 million square feet.
The enormous building is packed with more than 250 boutiques, stores, and restaurants, with a robust selection of luxury flagships, beauty counters, department stores, casual bites, and destination restaurants. Even if you’re just there to eat, window shop, and catch a movie at Metro Pointe, it’s a fun place to wander and explore.
🕜 Hours: Open 10am-8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am-9pm Friday and Saturday, and 11am-7pm on Sunday
📍 Address: 3333 Bristol Street, Costa Mesa, CA, 92626
